I feel bad for the person sleuthing me (hi, Littlest Ninja!), because I don't have that many posts... but I've just read them over and I think there's at least *some* info about me to be had. Sorry -- no blog or LJ for me, so you'll just have to go by posts and the questionnaire (and, of course, asking me questions if need be... that's allowed, right?)

My boyfriend got a tattoo with my initial in it. It's a shamrock with a lovely K inside of it, tattooed over his heart (aw). When I told a co-worker about it, her immediate response (I mean, she didn't even pause) was to very brightly say, "Well, he could always turn that into 'OK'!"

I just loved that she was immediately thinking of how he could fix this later and that her very happy, reassuring suggestion was "OK". Like, um, that would be a cool tattoo, right? Hee hee. Sure! Who doesn't want that ultra-hip "OK" tattoo?

It's a great place for advice about gluing (practically) anything to (practically) anything else. They don't explicitly list "fur trim," but they do have fabric (if it's faux) or leather (if it's real).

dansk -- Your tombstones are amazing! Thanks for posting these pics, as I would much rather paint than carve and these look really fabulous. Of course, my painting skills are not as good as yours, but still... this gives me hope!

It's been a few months since you posted, so you may have already solved jamming your problem, but... I just wanted to share my "getting out of a jam" experience (in case anyone else has this problem).

I bought a new button maker (Model 100) from American Button Machines. It arrived yesterday and, in my excitement, I managed to jam it on my third button. Oh no! (I think I put 2 mylars in without realizing it -- total user error, as this machine kicks a**. I love it!)

It came with instructions on how to unjam it which are exactly the same instructions that you pointed to in your post (http://www.buttonsonline.com/tuneup/ -- at the bottom of the page). My boyfriend and I scratched our heads on this for nearly an hour -- the part that they tell you to press down on seems like the *wrong* part (at least, in the wrong way!)

But we finally tried it anyway and voila! It worked!

You get the feeling that you should be "pulling" the parts apart, but what they want you to do is actually push them further together! And, oddly enough, it works. Yay!

If you're still jammed, I hope this helps. For anyone who gets in a jam... just trust the instructions. Okay! Gotta go make some more buttons now!

Call ahead. Then you can be anonymous if they're like the Yarn Store from Hell in Savannah that yahaira mentioned (that sounds awful!) and there's no embarrassment.

Having said that, I just wanted to share that I went into one LYS with a scarf that I had learned to make in a class at another LYS (we've got loads of 'em!) and I just gave her the puppy-dog-eyes "Can you *pleeaaase* help me...?" plea. (My question was stupid -- I was nervous about *blocking!*) And she was super, super sweet. She even asked me to bring it back when I was done to show how it had turned out.

Even if you're not buying something this trip, you're always a potential customer. If they know a *thing* about business, they'll respect that and realize that positive word-of-mouth is great for business (I kind of want to go to Plano, TX now, just to visit the Woolie Ewe!)

You could use a Tiffany & Co box for Charlotte's gift. If you don't have one (why, don't we all? ), it would be easy to make by wrapping a box in "Tiffany blue" paper and tying it up with a white satin ribbon:

Of course... she might get overly excited, thinking you bought her something from Tiffany's!